Landmarks Preservation Commission June 16, 2015, Designation List 482 LP-2519 M.H. RENKEN DAIRY COMPANY, Office Building, 582-584 Myrtle Avenue (aka 192 Classon Avenue), and Engine Room Building, 580 Myrtle Avenue, Brooklyn Built: Office Building, 1932; Koch & Wagner, architects Engine Room Building, circa 1860, architect not determined; main facade 1936-37, Koch & Wagner, architects Landmark Site: Borough of Brooklyn, Tax Map Block 1909, Lot 32 in its entirety and Lots 1001 and 1002 in part, consisting of that portion of Lots 1001 and 1002 lying north of a line beginning at a point on the eastern boundary line of Lots 1001 and 1002 that is 61.21 feet south of the northern boundary line of Lots 1001 and 1002, thence running westerly, parallel with the northern boundary line of Lots 1001 and 1002, to a point on the western boundary line of Lots 1001 and 1002. On June 2, 2015, the Landmarks Preservation Commission held a public hearing on the proposed designation as a Landmark of the M.H. Renken Dairy Company Office and Engine Room Buildings and the proposed designation of the related Landmark site (Item No. 3). The hearing had been duly advertised in accordance with the provisions of law. Two people spoke in favor of designation, including representatives of the Historic Districts Council and New York Landmarks Conservancy. The Commission also received letters in favor of designation from Council Member Laurie A. Cumbo, Community Board 2, and the Myrtle Avenue Brooklyn Partnership. There were no speakers in opposition to designation. This followed two earlier hearings in which the two buildings were heard individually. The M.H. Renken Dairy Company Office Building was previously heard on April 2, 2013 (Item No. 2). At that hearing, four people spoke in favor of designation, including representatives of the Historic Districts Council, Myrtle Avenue Brooklyn Partnership, New York Landmarks Conservancy, and Society for Clinton Hill. There were no speakers in opposition to designation. The M.H. Renken Dairy Company Engine Room Building was previously heard on October 29, 2013 (Item No. 3). One person, a representative of the Historic Districts Council, spoke in favor of designation. The public hearing was then closed and reopened to hear the testimony of a representative of the building’s owner, who spoke in opposition to designation. In 2013, the Commission received a letter in support of designation of the Renken Office Building from then-Council Member Letitia James. Summary The M.H. Renken Dairy Company Office and Engine Room Buildings are two structures with a unified design located at the corner of Myrtle and Classon Avenues in Brooklyn’s Clinton Hill neighborhood. German immigrant Martin H. Renken founded his dairy in 1888; around 1903, it moved to the block on which these buildings stand, and by 1914, the company had built up an impressive dairying complex. In the 1930s, Renken was at its peak: the third-largest dairy in New York City, it pasteurized and bottled more than seven million quarts of fresh milk annually, operated 300 delivery routes, and owned several creameries in Upstate New York and Pennsylvania. Reflecting its prosperity, in 1932, the company erected a new office building at 582-584 Myrtle

Avenue designed by the prolific Brooklyn firm of Koch & Wagner. Four years later, Koch & Wagner renovated the circa-1860 building at 580 Myrtle Avenue to contain an engine room and storage space, with a new front facade that matched the design of the Office Building and gave both buildings the look of a single structure. “Modernistic” in design and faced in tan enameled brick to convey a hygienic and efficient image, the Renken buildings are primarily Art Moderne in style, featuring patterned- and dark-brick “speed lines” and bracketless, streamlined cornices, as well as Art Deco touches. The buildings also incorporate International Style influences, which are visible in the buildings’ balanced asymmetry and creative inte

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